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For sure, and FB notes amortized investments bringing this figure down. The tax code rewards corporations for R&D investments. I think it's working. The optics are terrible though.

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> The tax code rewards corporations for R&D investments. I think it's working.

I'm fairly confident FB would be making R&D investments regardless of the reward from the tax code. But for change in behavior due to the tax code, the tax credit is a windfall.

Except the tax code isn’t written for Fb, it’s written for everyone. And R&D generally speaking has been underinvested for a long time in the US (for short term financial reasons), ultimately making it less competitive in the long term. If there are ways to incentivize companies for doing more R&D it seems like tax code is one of many levers to use.

I'm not sure companies like FB or Google would be viable at all if R&D investments weren't tax deductible. If employee salaries weren't tax deductible either (which is the main expense for R&D at these companies), it would create a lot of incentive not to hire people and not to do R&D.

Additionally, that money is being taxed in the end via income tax at a comparable rate.

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